Coffee is generally quite healthy and soda is full of sugar. However people end up putting lots of sugar in their coffees.
How much sugar is needed before a cup of coffee is worse than soda?
For my calculations I'll be using Coca Cola (which has 39 grams of sugar in a single can! (375ml))
For any amount of pure Coffee (no milk), you can put 39 grams of sugar or nearly 10 teaspoons of sugar, as Coffee has no sugar in it. 30ml is a standard espresso size so to be equivalent per ml of liquid you would need to put 3.1 grams of sugar which is less than a teaspoon.
One teaspoon in an espresso makes it contain a higher percentage of sugar than coke
For a 150 ml Cappuccino which is approximately 25 ml of coffee and 85 ml of milk, (Note that in a Cappuccino a portion of the volume is made up by froth which is why 85+25<150). Approximately 4.5 grams of sugar is from the milk which means you can still add another 34.5 grams of sugar to be equivalent to a can of coke. And to be equivalent per volume (using 110ml as the volume since the froth doesn't count as it is essentially air) you would need to add an additional 7 grams of sugar (nearly two teaspoons).
Two teaspoons in a cappuccino makes it contain a higher percentage of sugar than coke
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If you could add the amout of coffee, that might help - or how do you explain the differece between 39g and 26g? I sort of can't follow your math. – Stephie Oct 14 '15 at 13:58
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@Stephie I think that makes it clearer now, I reread it and even I had trouble remembering what I did haha. – Aequitas Oct 14 '15 at 21:26
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I wonder if I should be using 110ml or 150ml for the cappuccino calculations, I know it's just air in the froth, but you're still eating it so it would make you feel like you've consumed more correct? – Aequitas Oct 14 '15 at 21:26
By volume? Serving? I feel either way, the answer is easily reached by anyone with a basic education and reading some nutrition facts.
You could make a simple ratio:
x Soda has 24g of sugar, how much is 24g in volume(teaspoons)? Every roughly 4 grams of sugar is equal to a teaspoon which is 6 teaspoons, or 2 tablespoons. So a 12.6803(372ml) can has 6 teaspoons of sugar in it, so every roughly half ounce has a teaspoon of sugar.
So remember, every ounce has half a teaspoon of sugar. Next time you buy a 24oz latte you'd have to add 12 teaspoons of sugar. What easy math! Just half the number of ounces for teaspoon count and each teaspoon is 4 grams of sugar.
Note: I did not use coke as my example. If you want to use coke as your base value, the math is pretty basic.
